Many thanks for your reply Margaret. It's much appreciated.
Hello Aoife,
I can't remember any of the information about the Meehan family, as I had responded to Margaret's original post over two years ago on 31 March 2023.
After receiving your post I decided to do some research and see if what I could find about your great great grand parents, Neil Meehan and Catherine Cassie Gorrell.
I began the research with Neil Meehan.
You may already have some of the records I found, but some you may not, and so I'll just include every record I uncovered so that you can look at them.
Your information shows that Neil Meehan was born circa 1884. I looked for his birth record at the free irishgenealogy.ie website but didn't find it for that year. I then expanded the search and looked for his birth record from the 1870s through the 1880s, but again didn't find it. His birth would have been recorded in one of 10 County Donnegal registration districts, which in the late 1800s included: Ballyshannon, Derry (Londonderry), Donegal, Dunfanaghy, Glenties, Inishowen, Letterkenny, Milford, Strabane, and Stranolar.
Salthill Demesne and Mountcharles, for example, were in the Donegal registration district, civil parish of Inver.
It's possible I missed finding Neil's birth record, but it's also possible that one of his parents, John or Ann McClafferty Meehan, failed to report his birth to the local district registrar.
I then looked for Neil, his parents, and siblings, in the 1901 census transcription at the National Archives of Ireland website, and found they were the "Residents of a house 14 in Mountcharles Town (Mountcharles, Donegal)." See: https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Donegal/Mountcharles/Mountcharles_Town/1170841/
Once the census downloads, make sure to tick the box, "Show all information," to view the full census.
House 14 refers to the number on the census form, and not a house number.
The 1901 census shows that 17 year old Neil has seven siblings and that his father John was employed as a "Servant," and his mother Ann as a "Laundress."
To view a copy of the original 1901 census for the Meehan family, go to: https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000653124/
If you scroll down to the lower right of the census form you'll see John Meehan's signature.
The 1911 census shows that 22 year old Neil and his family were the Residents of a house 17 in Salthill Demesne (Mountcharles, Donegal): https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Donegal/Mountcharles/Salthill_Demesne/481429/
In the 1901 census Neil is 17 years old. But 10 years later, in the 1911 census, his age is 22, an increase of only 5 years of age as opposed to an increase of 10 years. This shows you cannot always trust a person's age in either the 1901 or 1911 Irish census enumerations.
If Neil was 22 in 1911, he would have been born circa 1889. I looked for his birth record again in the late 1880s and early 1890s but didn't find it.
I suspect his birth year of circa 1884, give or take a year or two, is correct.
If you tick the box "Show all information," for the 1911 census you'll see that Neil's parents John and Ann were married for 31 years as of 1911, and that in that time period had 9 children, with all 9 children still living.
In addition, the 1911 census shows that John and Ann's daughter, 21 year old Ann Jane, is married to 24 year old Daniel O'Hagan, employed as an engine fireman. The census doesn't give the number of years that Ann and Daniel were married, which is an indication they were only recently married. The census shows that Daniel was from County Tyrone.
The 1911 census took place on 2 April of that year. I found the marriage of Anna Jane Meehan and Daniel O'Hagan at the irishgenealogy.ie website, showing they were married in the Catholic Church of Mount Charles on 19 February 1911. See: https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/marriage_returns/marriages_1911/09948/5616493a.pdf
Daniel's occupation is engine driver. His residence at the time of marriage looks like "Hall Warren." I'm not sure if this was a reference to the townland of Hall Demesne. His father is Daniel "O'Hagan, employed as a "Water Manager."
21 year old Anna Jane Meehan was living in Salthill at the time of the marriage. Her father is John Meehan, a "Labourer." The priest who married Daniel and Anna Jane was Joseph Sheridan. The witnesses to the marriage were Denis Meehan and Mary O'Hagan. Denis would have been Anna's brother, and Mary likely was Daniel's sister. Denis and Mary signed the marriage register with "their x mark," indicating they could not write.
The next search involved looking for the marriage record of Neil Meehan and Catherine Cassie Gorrell. I found the marriage record showing they were married on 8 December 1923, when Neil was 37 years old and Catherine 24 years old. At 37 years old Neil would have been born circa 1886. At 24 years old Catherine would have been born circa 1899. See the marriage record at: https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/marriage_returns/marriages_1924/09164/5314323.pdf
The marriage is number 212 in the register, and shows that the couple were married in the Killymard Catholic Church.
Neil was a Labourer from Mountcharles. His father is John Meehan, also a Labourer.
Catherine was living in Drumkeehan at the time of the marriage. This townland is spelled "Drumkeeghan," according to the Ire Atlas Townland Data Base, and was in the civil parish of Killymard: https://tinyurl.com/52sm97aw
Catherine's father was Joseph Gorrell, a Labourer who was "deceased."
The priest, Joseph Sheridan, married Neil and Catherine. He is the same priest who married Daniel O'Hagan and Anna Jane Meehan 12 years earlier in 1911.
The witnesses to the Neil and Catherine's marriage were John Kyle and Bella Gorrell. The bride, Catherine Gorrell, signed the marriage register with "her x mark."
The note in small handwriting in the left margin of the marriage record states, "P. Griffith Deputy Registrar. Certificate received from J. Sheridan PP Killymard on 25:3:24. PG 25:8:24."
What this date means is that the priest, P. Sheridan, sent the church marriage certificate to the Deputy Registrar, P. Griffiths, on 25 March 1924, and that P. Griffiths recorded the marriage on 25 August 1924, 8 months after the marriage took place.
Here is a Google Map showing the location of the Killymard Catholic Church; the townland of Drumkeeghan, represented by the red teardrop icon; and the townland of Mountcharles: https://tinyurl.com/3537ms54
This Google Street View takes you to the Killymard, St. Mary's Catholic Church, Lough Eske Rd: https://tinyurl.com/mr3y84cp
This is a newer church. I don't believe that Neil and Cassie were married here, but in the Old St. Mary's Church, across and down the road about a quarter of a mile.
Here is a Google Street View of the old St. Mary's Church: https://tinyurl.com/5xf5zb8b
BIRTH RECORDS
Irish birth records are only available from 1864 to 1924 at the irishgenealogy.ie website, due to a 100 year privacy rule. But, I wondered if Neil and Catherine had a child in 1924, and so I looked for a 1924 birth record for a child of theirs, but didn't find one.
During the search for birth records however, I came across this index at the irishgenealogy.ie website:
Birth of ANNE MEEHAN on 26 December 1923
Group registration ID: 1941144SR
District/Reg Area: Donegal
Child's Sex: Female
Mother's Birth Surname: GORRELL
____
After locating the index I downloaded a copy of the original birth record for Ann Meehan, showing her middle name was Jane, and that her place of birth was Drumkeeghan. See:
https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/birth_returns/births_1924/01116/1467650.pdf
The birth is number 224 in the register.
Her father Neil is shown to be a Farmer living in Drumkeeghan. Her mother is Cassie Meehan, formerly Gorrell. Cassie reported the birth to the assistant registrar, the aforementioned P. Griffith, who recorded the marriage in the Donegal registration district on 29 January 1924.
The birth of Ann Jane Meehan was a complete surprise, as she was born on December 26 (Boxing Day), 18 days after her parents had married.
This is an indication that the marriage took place so that Neil and Catherine's child would not be born out of wedlock. Having a child out of wedlock in 1923 was a social and religious taboo, especially for the mother, who could have been sent to the infamous Magdalene Laundries, run by the Catholic nuns. Her baby would be taken away from her and placed with a family member or perhaps put up for adoption.
For more information about the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, see the history.com article, "How Ireland Turned ‘Fallen Women’ Into Slaves," by Erin Blakemore at:
https://www.history.com/articles/magdalene-laundry-ireland-asylum-abuse
Also see a review of the movie, "The Magdalene Sisters," in the August/September 2003 edition of Irish America magazine, by editor-in-chief, Patricia Harty: https://tinyurl.com/8jd9xbkw
By marrying your great great grandmother Cassie Gorrell when he did, your great great grandfather Neil Meehan possibly saved her a horrible fate in the Magdalene Laundries.
Aoife, had you known that Ann Jane Meehan was born the same month her parents were married?
Your information shows that Neil Meehan died in 1956. With this information I found his death record at the irishgenealogy.ie website, showing he died in Mountcharles on 8 May 1956: https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/deaths_returns/deaths_1956/04414/4150708.pdf
At the time of death we was a 72 year old widower who had been employed as a Labourer. The cause of death was Myocarditis, and Influenza. He also had dementia. The person who was present at the death, and who reported the death to the registrar, was his son, Charles Meehan, of Mountcharles.
Your information shows that Neil and Catherine had children Christine, Noreen, Ann, Patricia, Neil, Vincent, and Denis. Did you know about the son Charles?
Neil was a widower when he died in 1956. I Looked for his wife Catherine's death record I believe I found it.
Catherine died in Hall Demesne, Mount Charles, on 20 May 1954 at the age of 53. She was the "Wife of Labourer." Ironically, I found Catherine's death record on 20 May 2025. Her death is number 22 in the register: https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/deaths_returns/deaths_1954/04450/4164499.pdf
The death record also shows that Catherine died of "Uraemia Nephritis." The person who was present at her the death, and who reported the death to the registrar was Catherine's daughter, Ann Meehan of Hall Demesne, Mountcharles.
This would be the Ann Jane Meehan who was born on 26 December 1923.
CATHERINE CASSIE GORRELL
The 1923 marriage record for Neil Meehan and Catherine Gorrell show that Catherine was 24 years old and living in Drumkeehan. Her father Joseph was deceased at the time of the marriage.
I found Cassie in the 1901 census transcription from the National Archives of Ireland living in the household of her parents and siblings. The census shows they were "Residents of a house 2 in Drumkeehan (Donegal, Donegal)." The census show her father Joseph is 37 years old and her mother Mary 32 years old: https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Donegal/Donegal/Drumkeehan/1167395/
Make sure to tick the box, "Show all information" to view the full census.
You'll notice that everyone in the household is Roman Catholic, except for Mary's husband, and the children's father, 37 year old Joseph Gorrell. He belonged to the "Irish Church," which is the Protestant Church of Ireland.
Cassie's age is not given in the census, which is an indication that she was under the age of 1. A copy of the original census however, shows she was 9 months old when the census was taken on 31 March 1901: https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000648302/
A copy of her original birth record from the irishgenealogy.ie website shows that Cassie Gorrell was born in Drumkeeghan on 8 June 1900: https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/birth_returns/births_1900/01996/1767733.pdf
Her birth is number 477 in the register and shows that her father Joseph is a Labourer residing in Drumkeeghan. Her mother is Mary Gorrell, formerly Deary. Joseph reported the birth to the Assistant Registrar, whose name appears to be P. Connelly.
The 1911 census shows that 8 year old Catherine Gorrell, her parents, and three siblings were the "Residents of a house 12 in Drumkeeghan (Donegal, Donegal)."
See: https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Donegal/Donegal/Drumkeeghan/478116/
After you tick the box, "Show all information," you'll see that Catherine's parents, Joseph and Mary, were married for 22 years as of 1911, and in that time period had 10 children, with 6 children still alive. Four of the 6 children still alive are in the household.
Having been married for 22 years in 1911 means that Joseph and Mary were married circa 1889. But a copy of their original marriage record from irishgenealogy.ie shows they were married on 10 August 1886: https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/marriage_returns/marriages_1886/10842/5958215.pdf
The marriage is number 2 in the register.
In the marriage record Mary's maiden name is spelled Deery. She and Joseph were married in the Killymard Catholic Chapel. At the time of marriage Joseph was 26 years old and living in the townland of Doonan. No occupation is recorded for him. His father is also named Joseph, who was a Farmer.
Mary Deery was 21 years old. No occupation is recorded for her either. Her residence at the time of marriage was "Mullins." I believe this refers to the townland of Mullans, civil parish of Killymard. See the IreAtlas for Mullans: https://tinyurl.com/366nsh92
Mary's father is James Deery, a Farmer.
The priest who married Joseph and Mary was Michael Kelly. The witnesses to the marriage were William Gillespie and Jane Morrow.
Joseph Gorrell signed the marriage register with "his x mark," signifying he could not write. Both the 1901 and 1911 census returns show he could not read either.
At this time in history, I believe Joseph and Mary would have had to have made a promise to the Catholic priest that they would raise any children they had in the Catholic Church. If they didn't agree to this, I don't believe the Catholic Church would have allowed them to be married.
In the 1901 and 1911 census enumerations you'll see all the children of Joseph and Mary Gorrell are Roman Catholic.
Aoife, did you know that your great great grandmother Cassie's father, Joseph Gorrell, had belonged to the Protestant Church of Ireland?
The 1911 census shows that 8 year old Catherine Gorrell's father Joseph is still alive, but by her marriage to Neil Meehan in 1923, Joseph Gorrell is deceased. I looked for Joseph's death record from 1911 to 1923 at the irishgenealogy.ie website but didn't find it. I suspect that there was a death record somewhere in the Donegal registration district for Joseph, but that his last name may not have been indexed incorrectly by irishgenealogy.ie.
With this in mind I only looked for the deaths of men named Joseph, to see if any of the last names may have sounded like Gorrell, or had a similar spelling to Gorrell. This type research looking for a person in a birth, death or marriage by similar sounding/spelling surnames doesn't always work, but in this case it did.
After going through several death indexes at irishgenealogy.ie, I came across this index for a 56 year old Joseph "Farrell," whose death was recorded in the Donegal registration district:
Name: Joseph Farrell
Date of Death: 1915
Group Registration ID: 5456195
SR District/Reg Area: Donegal
Deceased Age at Death: 56
----
I opened up the full 1915 death record and found it was actually the death record for Joseph Gorrell, but if I hadn't been looking for this surname, I may not have been able to decipher the last name correctly because of the handwriting. Joseph's death is number 233 in the death register: https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/deaths_returns/deaths_1915/05266/4461207.pdf
Joseph died in "Drimkeeghan" (Drumkeeghan) on 13 July 1915. At the time of death he was married and had worked as a Farmer. The cause of death was "Epithelioma of lips and ? glands 2 years." See Wikipedia for an explanation of Epithelioma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epithelioma
The person who was present at the death and who reported the death to the assistant registrar, P. Griffith, was Joseph's son, William Gorrell, of Drimkeeghan.
If you go back to the 1901 census you'll see that William J. Gorrell is 9 years old. He is not in the 1911 census with his family however.
Joseph's death record shows he was still married at the time of death, and so I looked for the death record of Mary Gorrell from the year 1923, to an unspecified year in the future.
I found her death record which shows she died in on 11 November 1923 at the age of 50 years. She was a "Farmer's Widow" at the time of death: https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/deaths_returns/deaths_1923/05045/4380921.pdf
Her death is number 92 in the register.
She died almost a month before her daughter Cassie married Neil Meehan on 8 December 1923.
The cause of Mary's death was "Paralysis 7 weeks." The person who was present at her death and reported her death to the assistant registrar, P. Griffith, was her son Andrew Gorrell of Drumkeeghan. Andrew signed the register with "his x mark."
Andrew is in both the 1901 and 1911 census returns with his family.
MEEHAN FAMILY
In the previous reply I mentioned that Neil's parents, 25 year old John Meehan and 20 year old Ann McClafferty, were married in the Frosses Catholic Church, County Donegal, on 28 October 1877. At the time of the marriage John was living in Drumconner (Drumconor), and Ann in Hall, Donegal. The full name of the town of Hall is Hall Demesne.
The marriage record shows John's father was also named John. Ann's father was Patrick. Both fathers were "alive" at the time of the marriage in 1877.
At 25 years old (if his age in the marriage record is accurate) John would have been born in 1852. At age 20, Ann would have been born in 1857.
Drumconor and Hall Demesne were in the civil parish as well as the Catholic Parish of Inver.
According to the National Library of Ireland, the Inver Catholic baptisms are available from 30 January of 1861, and marriages from 3 February 1861. The Inver baptism registers begin too late to have recorded the baptisms of John Meehan and Ann McClafferty, and the marriage of their parents. See the National Library of Ireland website for the full Inver parish register dates, as well as a map of the Inver Catholic Parish and surrounding Catholic parishes: https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/1017?locale=en
There won't be birth civil record birth records for John and Ann either, as the Irish government didn't record birth, marriage, and death records for all religious denominations until 1864.
But, I wondered if John Meehan, baptized in 1852, had younger siblings who may have been baptized in the Inver Catholic Parish after 1860. If so, there may be a baptism records for these children.
I looked for a Meehan baptism transcriptions in the Inver Catholic Parish at the Find My Past website, but was not successful.
I then wanted to see if perhaps Ann McClafferty, daughter of Patrick McClafferty, may have had siblings baptized in the Inver Catholic Parish after 1860. I found one possibility at the Find My Past website, showing that a Carolus McClafferty was baptized in the Inver Catholic Parish on 15 March 1863. See the attachment.
The baptism record also shows he was born on 9 March 1863, and his father is Patrick McClafferty. His mother is Martha Colter. The godparents are Patritius (Patrick) McCLafferty and Maria "Dunnion," which I believe is an alternate spelling for Dunion.
There is evidence of the first name Charles in your family history. If you recall from earlier in this reply, Charles Meehan was present at the death of his father Neil in 1956. Charles also reported his father's death to the registrar.
The Inver baptism/birth record for Carolus (Charles) McClafferty is not direct evidence that he was Ann McClafferty's younger brother. At this point it is circumstantial evidence, as I haven't found any direct proof that Ann McClafferty's mother was Martha Coulter. It may also be that Carolus was not Ann's brother, but perhaps a cousin.
But, as you'll see a little later in this reply, I did come across the surnames Dunion and Coulter again in Griffiths Valuation.
GRIFFITHS VALUATION
According to their 1877 marriage record John Meehan was employed as Labourer living in "Drumconner." His father John was a labourer who was still alive.
There's no way of knowing just from the marriage record, if at the time of marriage John the son was born in Drumconer, or if he was born somewhere else and employed as a labourer in Drumconer.
I looked for John Meehan the father in Griffiths Valuation to see if he was leasing property in Drumconer. The search engine for Griffiths Valuation can be accessed for free at the Ask About Ireland website at: https://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/
I didn't find him recorded in Drumconer, though a Patrick “Meehon” is recorded in Drumconor.
Griffiths Valuation recorded people who owned property and the middlemen who worked for the owner collecting rent for the property. An owner or middlemen were called "Immediate Lessors."
Griffiths Valuation also recorded people who paid to lease houses, land and outbuildings called "offices." A leaseholder in Griffiths Valuation was called an "Occupier."
This means it's possible that John Meehan the father, lived in Drumconer but didn't pay to lease property there.
But I did find that a John Meehan leased a house, office and land from an Immediate Lessor name Lord Conyngham in Hall Demesne. He leased land in common with another man named Thomas Patterson. John's property is at map reference 17, subdivision b. See the Griffiths Valuation attachment for Hall Demesne.
Map reference 17, subdivision b refers to the location of John's lease on a Griffiths Valuation Map which is also attached to this reply. Thomas Patterson's lease is at Map 17, subdivision a. The green arrow on the map points to John Meehan's lease, which appears to be near the strand on Donegal Bay.
A Google Map also shows the same area along Donegal Bay: https://tinyurl.com/48xrm6c2
This Google Street View shows the approximate location of John Meehan's property along the road: https://tinyurl.com/yck7bzmj
His house may have been set back from the road, behind where you see the house in the Google Street View along the strand.
The John Meehan leasing property in Hall Demesne may refer to John's father, and Neil's grandfather, but there is no way to tell with complete certainty.
The 1877 marriage record shows that Ann McClafferty was living in Hall, that is, Hall Demesne, and that her father is a farmer named Patrick McClafferty, who was alive at the time of the marriage.
I looked for Patrick McClafferty in Griffiths Valuation to see if he was leasing property in Hall Demesne, but did not find him there.
But, Griffiths Valuation records a Patrick McClafferty twice in the nearby townland of Munterneese, civil parish of Inver. See the attachment.
In the first entry he leased only land, at map reference 8. In the second entry at map reference 9 and subdivisions, he leased a house, office, and land in common with John McClafferty. At map reference 10 is William McClafferty. The property owner for Munterneese was Lord Conyngham.
The Griffiths Valuation Map for Munterneese shows the location of Map reference 9 and subdivisions where Patrick and John McClafferty leased heir property from Lord Conyngham.
This Google Map shows the close proximity of the townlands of Hall Demesne, Munterneese, Salthill Demesne, Drumconnor, and Mountcharles in the civil parish of Inver: https://tinyurl.com/ma8fhtn7
Earlier, you saw the 1863 Inver Catholic baptism for Carolus (Charles) McClafferty, son of Patrick McClafferty and Martha Colter. I had noted it is possible this Patrick McClafferty may have been Ann McClafferty Meehan's father. The godparents for Carolus were Patrick McClafferty and Maria Dunnion.
In Griffiths Valuation for Munterneeses, you see the surnames Coulter and Dunion leasing property from Lord Conyngham.
But again, there is no way to tell with complete certainty if the Patrick McClafferty and Martha Colter in the 1863 baptism record for Carolus, were Ann's parents, or if Patrick McClafferty in Griffiths Valuation for the townland of Munternees, is Ann's father. Because you have done more comprehensive research into the Meehan family and related lines, you may be able to tell if there is a relationship or not.
I’ll close here, as this reply is getting lengthy.
I have to mention though, you have a very interesting family history.
Best Wishes Aoife,
Dave
SOURCES
National Archives of Ireland: 1901 and 1911 census
irishgenealogy.ie
IreAtlas Townland Data Base
Google Maps
Google Street Views
history.com: "How Ireland Turned ‘Fallen Women’ Into Slaves," by Erin Blakemore
Irish America Magazine movie review: "The Magdalene Sisters," by editor-in-chief, Patricia Harty
Wikipedia
National Library of Ireland
Find My Past
Ask About Ireland: Griffiths Valuation
Ask About Ireland: Griffiths Valuation Maps
